What Todd Boehly and Chelsea can expect as Deadline Day approaches for Thomas Tuchel

Todd Boehly, Clearlake Capital and Co have had a very busy start to life at Stamford Bridge since taking over from Roman Abramovich at the end of May. In addition to all the work involved in purchasing a football club the size of Chelsea, Boehly immediately had to dive into his first transfer window and took on the reigns as interim sporting director after the departures of Bruce Buck, Marina Granovskaia and Petr Cech.

Regardless of the obvious difficulties, Boehly, aided by others, has been very productive as the Blues stand in transfer chief, bringing in a host of quality players for Chelsea such as Raheem Sterling, Kalidou Koulibaly and Marc Cucurella, as well as exciting young talents Carney Chukwuemeka, Cesare Casadei and Gabriel Slonina. 

The day before Deadline Day and Wesley Fofana’s £70 million arrival was confirmed which saw him pen a seven-year deal. 

Despite these signings, Chelsea are still on the lookout for new additions, and with the closure of the window looming, Boehly will now have to face his first ever transfer deadline day. Transfer deadline day is an enigma that can be as chaotic and dramatic, as it can be frustrating and anti-climactic. So, after looking at Chelsea’s previous deadline day performances, Absolute Chelsea considers what may unfold on Thursday, and see if old habits die hard!

Proven Striker

Chelsea has a notoriously unpredictable record when it comes to signing strikers. Regardless of how many goals they may score at Stamford Bridge, one guarantee is that if Chelsea signs a striker on deadline day, they will come with a Premier League pedigree. The club’s last three deadline day purchases at striker have been Olivier Giroud, Loic Remy and Fernando Torres from Arsenal, QPR and Liverpool respectively. With Chelsea supposedly in the market for a new striker in this window, Boehly could look to copy this tactic with moves for Crystal Palace’s Wilfred Zaha, albeit unlikely, and ex-Arsenal captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang being mooted, with talks ongoing with Barcelona.

New signings will hope to fare better than Fernando Torres, who never fully lived up to the expectations of his £50 million price tag, although he did contribute to trophy wins in his time with the club. Any striker is likely to be considered a short term ‘fix’ with limited options available on the market presently, and therefore won’t be held up to the same standards Torres was while at Chelsea, which is hopefully a good omen. Neither Remy nor Giroud came with major fanfare, yet both were successful with the club. Remy scored vital goals as an effective back-up to Diego Costa in a title-winning campaign, while Giroud certainly over delivered by playing an important role in three major trophy wins.

Talks for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang remain ongoing, and it remains to be seen if Chelsea will be able to agree and get a deal over the line in time.

No signings better than poor signings

Two deadline days that don’t live fondly in the memory of most Chelsea fans are the unfortunately similar 2015 and 2017 summer windows. The two share many parallels, both followed title-winning campaigns, and both had two very publicly unhappy managers in Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte by the end of the window, who didn’t feel they had been backed appropriately after their successes.

In a frantic bid to appease their managers, Chelsea made a plethora of regrettable signings in the blind hope it would satisfy fans and manager alike. Unfortunately, Michael Hector and Papy Djilobodji in 2015 and the more expensive Davide Zappacosta and Danny Drinkwater in 2017 proved to be very poor signings, with both coaches leaving by the end of the next season, yet their deadline day signings remained.

Admittedly, Thomas Tuchel has had plenty spent on his squad this summer and hasn’t shown half as much frustration as his predecessors. However, with Chelsea still active in the market it shows Tuchel isn’t yet satisfied with his squad, and Boehly needs to be careful not to be too desperate as deadline day frenzy sets in and bring in unnecessary players that the club may be stuck with for years to come.

But it looks likely that at least one name will be brought in on the final day of the window, with both midfield and attacking additions targeted, including Ajax’s Edson Alvarez. 

Never rule out a big move

Chelsea is known for their big spending and have never shied away from making big moves right up to the deadline. Most famously Fernando Torres’ move from Merseyside in January 2011, however there are plenty of other examples of Chelsea trying to pull off the big moves late in the day.

David Luiz was dramatically brought back to the club from PSG at the very last minute in 2016, while deadline day moves for Ashley Cole and Claude Makelele in 2006 and 2003 show that Chelsea are no strangers to late summer drama. Failed moves for Luka Modric and Robinho highlight that this tactic has not always been successful, but it does display a willingness to pull off big deadline day deals.

With many big players still on the market being linked with moves away, such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Frenkie de Jong, albeit moves being highly unlikely, it would be silly to rule out a late move from Chelsea given the funds the club possesses. Whether Boehly is as bold as his Chelsea predecessors remains to be seen, but with Chelsea still in the hunt for signings and given their history of late movement, it is possible the Blues may still have a few unexpected tricks up their sleeve.